We Belong
by proudmarveltrash
Summary: Collection of domestic!Avengers one-shots featuring Maia from Deliver Us.
1. Introduction

Welcome to **We Belong** , the semi-sequel to Deliver Us.

This story will be a series of one-shots, following Maia's journey throughout the period of time set between AofU and Civil War. This will include of course bonding times for everyone- one speedy bastard in particular, of course- and all around fun times, at least for the most part. They should at least be fun to read! :D

I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this, but I plan on having roughly 15-20 one-shots before Civil War comes out next May, which equates to one or two a month. That number may change, but that's what I'm planning as of now.

If you haven't read **Deliver Us** , I highly recommend reading that story before this one.

If you have read **Deliver Us** , I hope you'll all enjoy the story. :)


	2. Breathe

**Breathe**

 _"There's a light at each end of this tunnel, you shout 'cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out. And these mistakes that you've made, you'll just make them again. If you'd only try turning around... So cradle your head in your hands and breathe, just breathe."_

 _Breathe (2 AM) - Ana Nalick_

* * *

"Come on, Maia. You can do better than that."

I knit my eyebrows tightly together, gritting my teeth as I flexed my sore fingers.

"Just concentrate. The harder you try, the easier this will be, and the sooner we'll finish this."

 _Shut up_ , I wanted to yell. _Your babbling is distracting_. Knowing that this would only earn myself more verbal abuse, however, I bit my tongue and did as Agent Hill commanded- I forced every bit of concentration I could muster to the forefront of my mind.

"You're almost there. Imagine the technology and change it."

"I am trying," I growled.

"Try _harder_."

As a small bead of sweat slid from my temple to my jaw, I released the breath I had been holding in a huff and dropped my hands. "I can't do it."

Maria sighed as she planted her hands on her hips, tilting her head as she stared at me. "Yes you can. You're just not trying hard enough."

"How can you say that?" I argued, flapping a tired arm in the direction of the Iron Legion robot standing in front of me. It twisted its head to glance at Maria before turning back to me wordlessly. "I am not Wanda, or Vision. I do not manipulate minds!"

"I know that," she replied with a calm yet firm voice. "I'm not asking you to manipulate a mind. I'm asking you to rearrange the bot's coding." I ran my hand down my face with a groan, wiping away my sweat and exhaustion while Maria continued to watch me. "You have the potential to be unstoppable, Maia. But potential is useless if you don't apply yourself."

"You are asking me to do something that is not within my powers to do!" I snapped, glaring at the woman before tossing my left hand towards the bot and gripping its insides, easily shoving it to the floor. " _This_ is what I can do. I control movement, not choice. Simply commanding me to do otherwise will not give me the ability to do so."

Maria crossed her arms over her chest as she cocked one eyebrow, shifting her weight to lean on her right leg. "Fine. We'll take a short break for lunch, but when we come back, you're trying again."

Without bothering to argue further, I snatched my water bottle from the edge of the mat I was standing on and marched out of the room, streaming curse words at the woman in my head. Ever since I had become an official Avenger and was announced completely healthy by Dr. Cho, they had wasted no time in trying to advance my powers further than Strucker had ever tried.

Not only did they expect me to be able to control multiple people at once, but they were also exploring the limits of how much control I had over machinery. The most recent assignment Maria had given me was to try and give robots commands by manipulating their hard drives and sending orders through their motherboard. The furthest I ever got was telling one to lift its arm instead of simply lifting it myself, but this was enough to convince Maria that I had the potential to give them any number of orders that they would be forced to follow.

I was so caught up in my anger that I rounded the corner of the hallway without looking and walked straight into another person, accidentally splashing my opened water bottle over their shirt. I glanced up to see who it was, and allowed myself to continue breathing calmly when I saw that it was Sam. He was one of the nicer people currently staying in the Avengers Facility, and I was glad I wouldn't have to deal with an angry Avenger.

"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly, screwing the lid back onto my water and pulling a small towel off my shoulder that he wiped his clothes off with. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Ah, it's no big deal," he dismissed. "I'm about to go shower before we eat anyway. You just gave me a head start is all."

I chuckled nervously, already stepping around from the man. "Right. Well, I should... I'm sorry."

With that, I passed by Sam and hurried down the hallway. Despite having lived here for close to two weeks now, I still found myself uncomfortable around everyone except the twins. They were all nice enough, but I still felt bad about fighting against them at Ultron's side and feared that they held silent grudges against me- especially the ones I had manipulated during our fights.

Wanda, always having been one to make friends easily, seemed to be exactly the opposite from me. She grew closer to the team every day, smiling and joking as she roamed the large building with her newly acquired comrades. She seemed close to Vision in particular, spending most of her free time having long conversations with him that she would happily recount to Pietro and I later on.

Pietro, while he had usually leaned more towards my tactics of generally distrusting strangers, also seemed to get on quite well with the Avengers, though in his own special way. While Wanda preferred to listen to their battle stories and tell them her own tales of our time in Sokovia, Pietro had grown accustomed to joining Steve and Sam on their morning jogs, engaging in prank wars with Clint, and being his usual jokester self.

As for myself, when I wasn't with the twins, I tended to stick more to myself. It wasn't as if the Avengers had ever truly made me feel unwelcome, but the nagging voice in the back of my head still told me that they didn't actually want me here. It was this voice that kept me from participating in most conversations, or encouraged me to choose spending more of my time alone than joining my family in making new friends.

And it was this voice that had me practically running away from one of the nicest people I'd ever met, even when he was openly forgiving towards me when I made a mistake.

When I finally made it back into my bedroom, I quickly closed the door behind myself with a sigh of relief. Any chance I could get to avoid speaking to these people, I was going to take.

"What has you in such a hurry?"

I let out a small shout of surprise, whipping around at the sound of the voice. Pietro laughed at my reaction, lacing his fingers behind his head as he snuggled deeper into his resting place my bed. "Did I scare you?"

"Jerk," I scolded, throwing my water bottle at him. He easily caught it, of course, and sat up to take a drink out of it while I walked towards the drawers against the wall and opened the top drawer.

"Aw, don't be angry with me."

"Too late."

My hair fluttered slightly in its ponytail, brushing over my shoulder as Pietro's arms wrapped around my waist from behind me. I ignored him, rifling through the piles of clothes Wanda had insisted on picking out for me. To be honest, I was perfectly happy with wearing a t-shirt and shorts every day, but she would have none of that. "We finally have the means to dress you up!" she had told me, clapping her hands together. "Don't worry, I'll do all the shopping for you." I shouldn't have agreed, because now I had to dig through too many outfits to find a comfortable one.

"You didn't answer my question," Pietro pointed out.

"I am aware." I finally settled for one of the loose tank tops she had bought for me and a pair of light-wash jeans before slamming the drawer shut and stepping out of Pietro's grasp to walk towards my connected bathroom.

When I walked in, Pietro had already moved to stand in front of me and I clicked my tongue with annoyance. "Are you not going to let me change before we eat?"

"I will after you talk to me."

"We will be late."

"I'm sure they will manage without us."

I sighed and tossed my clothes onto the sink before crossing my arms over my stomach. "There is nothing to talk about."

"Maia," Pietro scoffed with a small shake of his head. "After all this time, you still try to lie to me? How long until you realize you can't hide anything from me?" I didn't answer, causing him to shake his head once more before smirking at me. "You know, I could always simply ask Wanda what is bothering you."

"She wouldn't know," I immediately contested. "She would never look into my head without my permission."

"She would if I asked her to."

" _Pietro._ "

" _Maia._ "

Growing increasingly frustrated and not willing to argue any further, I grabbed Pietro's forearm and shoved him out of the bathroom. When he tried to fight back, I did something I rarely did- I didn't let him. I used his legs against him, forcing him out of the room and slamming the door shut once he was gone.

He was silent on the other side while I ripped my clothes off, tossing them haphazardly into the laundry basket, but I knew he was still there by the quickened buzzing of his nerves. I could feel how upset he was, but in the moment, I didn't care. After dressing into much more comfortable clothes, I stopped in front of the mirror and stared down at the sink, waiting for Pietro to leave so I wouldn't have to face him again.

With all my attention focused on his actions, I sensed when he sighed and lifted his hand to rest it against the doorframe. "I know this is a difficult time for you, kravitsa," he murmured through the wood, just barely loud enough for me to hear him. "Living here with these people is a change for all of us... I hope you realize that you are not alone in this struggle."

When I opened my mouth to answer, I was halted by an involuntary shuddering intake of breath. I hadn't even realized I was crying, but when I did it became instantly harder to breathe. My chest was tight and my legs felt weak, so I turned around to sit on the floor and rest my back against the sink counter, pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms tightly around myself. My head began to throb while the entire world seemed to become so much smaller. Anxiety gripped my insides, twisting them in a manner that made it seemingly impossible to breathe.

It felt like I was dying, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Maia?" Pietro knocked softly on the door. "Will you please come out now? I promise not to ask anymore questions." The lack of air prevented me from answering, while my muscles became tensed and I had to massage my arms to try and alleviate the building pressure. "Maia? Are you all right?"

I shook my head furiously with my forehead rubbing against my knees. Never had I experienced such pain, especially without an apparent cause.

Pietro knocked harder on the door. "Maia? I'm going to go get Wanda. I'll be right back."

It seemed like hours that I was trapped in that tiny bathroom with the weight of the world trying to crush me in on myself, every second bringing another wave of thought that this was surely the end of the world. There was no other explanation for such a phenomenon.

"Maia?" This time it was Wanda knocking at the door. "I'm going to open the door, so stay back."

The door handle was soon covered in red wisps before it turned and the door was pushed open to reveal Wanda standing in front of it with Pietro looking in over her shoulder. When she saw me on the floor, Wanda's face fell and she rushed in, dropping to her knees at my side. "Are you all right? What's happening?"

She laid her hand on my shoulder, but it felt like fire. Finally speaking, I shoved her away from me and moved my hands to grip my hair. "Don't touch me," I growled, squeezing my eyes shut. " _Please._ "

The both of them were quiet for a time before Wanda returned her hand to my shoulder, though her touch was light as a feather this time. The muscles her hand faintly covered relaxed, and like a light switch I instantly shifted from wanting her nowhere near me to wishing she could touch every part of me at once.

Luckily, I didn't have to wish very long. Within seconds I was cradled against her side like a small child, her arms wrapped firmly around me. She brushed her fingers through my hair while she rocked me, cooing soothing words to me in our mother tongue.

It took a while, but air slowly returned to my lungs and the pounding in my head dulled to a tolerable ache. Once I had calmed down, Wanda moved her hand from the top of my head to cradle my cheek. "Better?" I nodded softly, and she copied the action. "Do you want to join us for lunch, or would you rather go to bed?"

My stomach felt empty, but I also didn't want to face the others so soon after... whatever had just happened to me. While I sat contemplating, Pietro stepped further into the room to crouch in front of Wanda and I with a small half-smile. "Why don't I bring your lunch to you? We can use Stark's money to buy a movie on the television and spend the rest of the day in bed. How does that sound?"

"You hate staying still," I muttered, and both he and Wanda chuckled.

"I'm willing to make an exception today." He glanced at Wanda before holding his hand out towards me. "Come on. I'll tuck you in, like when we were younger."

I laid my hand in Pietro's and he gently pulled me to my feet, holding my hand all the way to the bed. He pulled the blankets back while I climbed in on my side, a wave of exhaustion hitting the moment my head touched the pillow. After pulling the blankets back up to my shoulders and tucking the edges in around me, Pietro ran his hand over the top of my head.

"I will let the others know that we won't be joining them," Wanda offered before leaving the room, flipping off the light and closing the door quietly behind herself.

As soon as she was gone, Pietro walked around the bed to lay on the other side, though he quickly moved over to be right by my side. He had to have grabbed the remote for my rarely used TV at some point, because the darkened room was then illuminated by the screen's glow. "Any requests?" Pietro asked.

My eyes were already sliding closed, and I just barely shook my head before I was unable to open them again. I felt Pietro's hand resting gently atop my head as I slipped under, and a soft kiss placed on my temple.

* * *

When I woke, the room was even darker than it had been before. The television had been shut off at some point, and when I sat up I saw that Wanda and Pietro had both fallen asleep on my bed in the same clothes they had been wearing earlier that day. Not wanting to disturb them, I carefully shifted my legs to the floor and stood. Two empty plates and one still holding food were sitting on my nightstand along with three glasses of water, so I piled the dishes up as quietly as possible to carry back into the kitchen.

Once I was in the living room I looked outside the large windows and saw that it was the middle of the night, judging by how dark it was. That explained why the rooms were so empty and quiet.

Well, almost empty. When I walked into the kitchen, I was startled to see Tony sitting at the breakfast counter with a glass of what I was sure was some type of alcohol in hand. His other hand held a pen, and various papers were scattered in front of him. He looked up when I walked further in, nodding towards the dishes in my hand. "A bit late for chores, don't you think?"

"I didn't want to simply leave them in my room," I explained as I set them carefully in the sink to avoid making too much noise. "Besides, if it is too late for chores, it is much too late for work."

Tony shrugged, and I flipped the water on to wash the dishes. It only took a few minutes, but by the time I was putting them back away in the cabinets Tony was already up and refilling his glass. I had expected to simply return to my room without any further conversation, but I was wrong. "Wanda says she's worried about you."

I fiddled with my thumbs before taking one of the clean glasses back out of the cabinet and filling it with water at the sink. "She has nothing to worry about."

"Maybe not." Tony returned to his seat at the counter. "She didn't want to give many details, but she did say that she wasn't sure what had happened to you."

"Nothing happened," I argued, holding the cup tightly between both my hands with my lower back resting against the sink behind me. "I was just... sick."

Tony pursed his lips, staring down at his work. I never knew what he was thinking, but I had come to expect many surprised from him at this point. What he said next, though, was probably the most surprising thing he had ever said to me. "You were seeing things that weren't happening. You were shaking, and you felt like you were about to implode. You couldn't breathe, you could barely move. You thought you were dying."

When I looked up from my cup to stare at him with confusion and shock, he nodded and tapped his pen against his head. "I know what kind of sick that is, and it isn't physical. It's all up here."

"You are going to tell me that I imagined all of that?" I scoffed, shaking my head. "That's not possible."

"You didn't imagine it, per se. It's a real feeling, but not really happening. Nobody really understands how it works," he shrugged, though the fact that he was avoiding my gaze told me that this subject was something he was having difficulty discussing.

"How what works?"

"Psychologists call it anxiety or panic disorder. Some people are born with it, some people develop it because of traumatic experiences. If that was your first panic attack- which is what that feeling was- then lucky you," he congratulated sarcastically. "You've developed anxiety."

Anxiety? I thought that was an emotion, not a disorder... I sipped my water with furrowed eyebrows, considering the likelihood of what Tony was explaining.

"My suggestion?" Tony grouped his papers together and tapped them against the counter to straighten them out before tucking them under his arm. After grabbing his glass in his other hand, he grinned at me. I could never tell when his smiles were genuine or not... "Talk to Dr. Cho about it. She'll give you something to counteract the symptoms."

I nodded, trying to take in everything he was saying at once. "Thank you."

"Yep."

When he was gone, I stayed standing in the kitchen for a while until I finished my cup of water. Once that was empty, I re-washed the glass and returned it to the cabinet before making my way back to my bedroom.

As I crawled back into bed, Pietro shifted with a sigh and wrapped his arm over my waist. "Are you okay?" he mumbled without opening his eyes.

I snuggled against his side, resting my hands on his chest. "All is well."

* * *

 **And there you go!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter, even if it was a bit angsty.**

 **Anxiety is something I've wanted to write about for a long time, and Maia seemed to fit it perfectly. Don't worry though, they won't all be like this. There will be plenty of happy times to come along with adventures and more of the other Avengers, but I wanted to put this one out there first so you all know what Maia is going through before Civil War starts up.**

 **Like I said before, I'll probably only put out one or two of these a month, but they will all be at least as long as this one, if not longer.**


	3. Sunday

**Sunday**

" _For those who guilt, for those who wilt under pressure. For those who wake with a blind headache, who must be still, who will sit and wait for Sunday to be Monday. It will be okay, do nothing today. Give yourself a break, and let your imagination run away."_

 _Sunday - Sia_

* * *

You would think that life as an Avenger was exciting, with an endless stream of villains attempting to thwart all that is good and right with the world while we risked our lives to save the innocent people of Earth. Instead, keeping my hands as balanced as possible, I gently lowered the last two playing cards on the peak of the rest to finish off my sixth attempt at building a complete house of cards. It was definitely the most boring activity I'd resorted to during my time here at the Avengers Facility, but I had already finished all of my training exercises for the morning and had nothing better to occupy my time with until the second round of assignments that evening.

I'll be blunt. Most of the time, being an Avenger is _utterly boring._ Trying to keep these unruly cards in place for longer than a minute was the most fun I'd had in days, and I was still dying for something- _anything_ \- to happen. Well, almost anything.

"What is that you're building?"

The unexpected voice caused only the smallest twitch of my fingers, but even that was enough to cause every one of the cards to flutter down onto the table. I groaned with annoyance, dropping my head into my hands and gripping my hair. "I give up!"

Now that my concentration had been broken and I was aware of his presence, I felt Vision walk closer to me with worry tinging his voice. "Are you all right, Maia? You seem distressed."

"There is nothing to do around here!" I snapped, throwing my head onto the back of the couch to meet Vision's gaze. "All day long we either train or wander aimlessly, never doing anything of significance. I have gone so far as to resort to playing with these," I leaned forward to brush the cards out of place before resting my cheek against the palm of my hand. "And they are not even fun! I simply have nothing better to occupy my time with!"

Vision knit his eyebrows as he surveyed the scattered cards. "Well, that does seem like an issue. Shall I fetch one of the twins for you? Perhaps you would enjoy spending some time with them."

"I _do_ spend time with them," I sighed. "I spend nearly every moment of every day with them. And it is not that I do not enjoy my time with them, because I always have and always will. I simply wish that there was some activity for us to do that does not require being scolded by Maria." I scrunched up my nose at the thought of returning to the training room with her later tonight only to be once again subjected to what she insisted was not torture, but I knew better.

"Perhaps there is something that you and I could do together," he suggested, looking curiously around the room. "I am sure that it should not be too difficult for us to find something to entertain ourselves with."

"Believe me, I have tried."

Vision hummed quietly to himself for a moment before his eyes landed on the door he had entered through in the first place. He excused himself with a quick, "One moment," before leaving me once again on my own. I barely had time to wonder what he was up to before he had returned, holding Thor by his elbow with a large smile. "Here we are! Thor is entertaining. Would you like to spend some time with him?"

Thor looked flattered by the compliment, but confused nonetheless. "I do not understand. Is something happening?"

"If only," I muttered under my breath while Vision explained the predicament.

Thor nodded along with Vision's words while he spoke before mimicking his earlier action of humming thoughtfully to himself. While Vision was talking with Thor, we were joined by another man walking through the door with his usual wide grin plastered on his face and a happy spring in his step. Envious of his inexplicably perpetual joy and willing to try anything at this point, I shot off the couch and ran over to stand in front of Tony. "Why are you so happy?"

Tony arched one eyebrow before taking an exaggerated step around me and continuing on his path. "I make it a point in life to enjoy myself. It's kind of my philosophy." He paused momentarily to turn back and point at me. "You should try smiling sometime. You might not look so angry. Like that!" he shouted when I glared at him, clicking his tongue. "Terrifying."

"I am serious, Stark." I followed him as he walked towards the kitchen, only slightly aware of Vision and Thor trailing quietly behind us. "There is nothing to do around here. I would not ask you for help if I were not desperate."

"I know," he chuckled as he began to rifle through his vast assortment of drinks on the corner counter. "It's always hilarious when one of you realizes that I really am the smartest person around here, on all accounts." Before I could protest, he turned back around with a glass of dark amber liquid and continued to talk. "Don't worry, I'll fix your problem for you. Free of charge. You're welcome. You know what your problem is? You never had a normal childhood. Because of that, you don't know how to have fun without constant stimulus. Such a tragedy… That's what I'll do!"

He downed his drink in one go before dropping the glass haphazardly on the counter and marching back out of the kitchen. Yet again, the person I had been trying to speak to about my boredom had left with no real explanation. "Am I saying something wrong?" I asked Thor and Vision, who both simply shrugged at my question.

When Tony returned to the kitchen, I was surprised to see that he had dragged in the rest of the Avengers with him, most of them sporting looks of annoyance. I had made progress with the lot of them over the past couple weeks, but I was still much more comfortable with the twins than I imagined I would ever be with any of them, so I naturally gravitated towards the two of them while everyone wondered what they were doing in here. After performing a quick headcount, he clapped his hands together with a smile. "I'm glad you all decided to attend my Sunday Funday meeting!"

" _Decided_ ," Clint scoffed while Steve mumbled, "Sunday Funday?"

"Sunday Funday," Tony repeated with a nod. "As Maia so graciously pointed out to me, all of you are freaks-"

"I did _not_ say that."

"-who have no idea how to enjoy yourselves. That is why I have decided to cancel all of your plans for the day so that we can finally have some fun around here."

There were jumbled protests from around the room, with only one person agreeing. "It's true that we work more than anything," Rhodey shrugged to himself. When multiple glares were shot in his direction, he rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Which one of you can claim that you grew up in a normal household?"

While most of the Avengers took to crossing their arms and averting their eyes around the room, Sam raised his hand confidently. "There we go!" Tony exclaimed, grabbing Sam and Rhodey by the shoulders and pulling them against his side. "You two can be in charge of today. I mean, obviously I can veto any terrible ideas you two will inevitable have because it is my day, after all, but let's not think about that! So, what are we doing first?"

Sam and Rhodey shot each other confused glances while Tony beamed between the two of them. This was certainly not the turn I had expected this afternoon to take, but at this point I was willing to try anything.

Sam was the one to suggest something first, brushing Tony's hand off his shoulder. "I guess we could show you some games. It's not like we have anything better to do."

The two of them were sent off to compile a list of things that were considered childhood traditions, while the rest of us settled for waiting scattered throughout the living room. Natasha and Clint went to go find Maria, claiming that she would be upset if she wasn't included. I didn't quite believe such a thing would affect her, but I also didn't dare to argue with the former SHIELD agents and said nothing when they left the room.

Tony was practically bouncing in his seat, most likely excited that the entire team was willingly going along with one of his plans for once. Steve had begun rifling through my abandoned card set, separating them into their correct numerical order according to suits. It made me wonder if he was a bit OCD.

Thor sat on the arm of one of the many chairs, flipping Mjolnir casually in his hands. I had tried lifting the hammer once when nobody else was in the room, not surprised in the least when I was unable to even budge it. As I had been told by the others, he and Vision had been the only ones able to lift the weapon. Natasha swore that she saw Steve budge it, but Steve simply shrugged it off. I would never understand how Thor was able to wield it so easily.

Vision sat on Wanda's left, the two of them speaking quietly to each other about her childhood in Sokovia. I could tell just how much she liked him by how much she shared with him, even if it wasn't everything. I had asked her once about the nature of their relationship, her blush contrasting against her insistence that she simply found him interesting.

I sat to her right, watching Pietro pace back and forth between the couch the three of us were seated on and the window on the opposite side of the room. He had tried sitting next to me for a few minutes but as usual, he had found himself unable to keep still for an extended period of time. Very rarely could he stay seated for more than a minute or two, and that was usually only when he had something else to occupy himself with. I relaxed against the back of the couch, waiting impatiently for Sam and Rhodey to return with their first idea.

They came in a painstaking seven minutes later, long after Clint and Natasha had returned with Maria. They weren't content to just walk in, however. The two men came sprinting in, yelling at all of us to get off the floor as quickly as possible.

"Everyone get on the furniture!"

"Don't touch the floor!"

"Move, move, move!"

Not knowing what was happening, but motivated by the sense of urgency in their movements and voices, every one of us scrambled to get on top of the scattered couches and chairs in the rooms. When all of us were off the floor, Pietro turned his confused gaze to the men. "What is happening? Should I check the perimeter?"

Without waiting for an answer, Pietro tried to step down from the chair he had found himself on. Before his foot could touch the ground, however, Sam started shouting incoherently at him and waving his arms. "No, no! The floor is lava!"

I peeked over the edge of the couch disbelievingly, shaking my head. "Um, no. No it's not. It is carpet."

" _No_ ," Rhodey drawled. "It's lava! You can't touch the floor, and you have to keep moving or the lava monsters will come up and grab you. Come on, everyone switch places. If you fall in the lava, you're out!"

Still unaware of what exactly this game was supposed to be, I followed the rules by carefully jumping from the couch to the coffee table, steadying myself when I nearly tripped on a card. I was very confused why this was even considered a game at first- it seemed much too dangerous- but the longer it went on the more fun it became.

Tony was the first to fall, though he claimed he had done it on purpose because he didn't like this game. Thor was next, followed by Vision. One by one we all tripped up until the only two left were Clint and Natasha, and we agreed to end the game there instead of watching them compete for the next three days.

We played a number of children's games to fill our afternoon, including Duck-Duck-Goose, Hot Potato, Ninja, and Seven-Up. I had never seen the team getting along so well as when we jokingly argued over who had won a round of a certain game or what special rules applied due to none of us actually being normal children. It was all fun and games until we reached our final challenge.

"Cops and Robbers," Sam and Rhodey announce at the same time, excitement clear on their faces. "The rules are simple," Sam went on to explain. "We'll separate into two teams, the Cops and the Robbers. The Robbers have three minutes to run and hide before the Cops try to find them. If a Robber gets tagged by a Cop they go to Jail, which is the living room couch. If a Robber tags another Robber in Jail, they can leave. Everybody understand?"

After a collective nod of understanding, Sam and Rhodey separated the lot of us into different groups. The Cops would be of Steve, Sam, Thor, Natasha, Maria and Pietro. The Robbers would be Tony, Rhodey, Clint, Vision, Wanda and me. At first I wanted to protest to being separated from Pietro, but when he smirked at me and said, "This will be too easy," that flew out the window. Now, I was determined to win.

The second the other team had closed their eyes to allow us our hiding time, all of the Robbers shot off in different directions. I saw Tony and Rhodey smirk at each other before heading for the stairs while Clint snuck his way out the back door. Vision looked at Wanda and I before shrugging his shoulders and walking down the hallway leading to the gyms.

Wanda pulled me away from the others before cupping her hand around my ear and whispering to avoid them overhearing what she had to say. "Where should we go?"

I searched the room for hiding spots, thinking that perhaps hiding in plain sight may be a good plan, but the fact that we had a time limit worried me. "Follow me," I whispered back to Wanda, though I didn't have any real ideas as to where we should go.

With Wanda trailing behind me, I followed Clint's lead of finding a spot to hide outside. I guessed that he must have climbed one of the nearby trees or found a way to the roof because I saw no traces of Clint outside. The reminder that half of the players were highly trained spies and soldiers made me think that this game might not ever end.

"Over here," Wanda called to me when I stopped walking, pulling me around the corner of the large building. Along the wall there was a crevice that looked just large enough to fit the both of us standing side by side. I noticed a small red glow keeping the back of my shirt from rustling against the wall and shot Wanda a disapproving look. "Hush. I want to win."

I didn't think it had taken us too long to find our hiding spot, but before I could even count to thirty in my head I heard soft footfalls on the grass around us. My eyes lost focus on Wanda's face in front of mine as I turned my attention to the person on the other side of the wall, trying to identify them by the structure of their nervous system. It was a trick I had picked up with Wanda and Pietro long ago to tell them apart from the guards during our time with HYDRA, but I hadn't quite perfected telling the other Avengers apart yet despite Maria's harsh practice regimes.

After sensing that there were in fact two players instead of one, I tried separating one from the other. One was shorter and had a thinner frame than the other, and the bigger one's system- though structured the same as his partner's- fired at a significantly slower rate than the other's. I was able to relate this difference to Steve, and could only assume that his partner was Sam according to that information.

I held up two fingers to warn Wanda before pointing in the opposite direction to show her where we should run to should we be seen. She nodded that she understood, and we both pressed our backs closer to the wall as if this would keep us better hidden.

"Since you're first timers, I'm willing to give the two of you a head start."

We both tensed up at Sam's voice, and the sight of him walking into our peripheral vision was enough to let me know it was time to go. I latched onto Wanda's wrist and tugged her behind me as I shot off, ignoring my instinct to stop the others from following after us.

I almost stopped running when Wanda pulled away from me and turned on her heel to run in a different direction from me. "They cannot catch us both," she explained hastily. I might have argued were it not for the growing smile on her face that I could only assume was put there by her enjoyment of this game.

I nodded in approval of her tactic before silently wishing her good luck and sprinting back towards the building, making sure to take a different route than Sam and Steve to keep them from putting me in jail. I was trying so hard to get away from them that I was almost caught by a pair of arms trying to grab me when I ran through the facility's back doors.

I let out a small shout of surprise when Pietro reached out for me as I was barely able to sidestep out of the way, allowing myself just one more second of freedom. "You stay away from me," I warned teasingly, pointing a finger at Pietro as I backed away.

He ignored my threat, walking towards me at a playfully slow pace as he smiled innocently. "You might as well give up now. You will not be able to run from me."

"That is what you think," I challenged with a smirk.

He raised one eyebrow as he continued to follow after me. "That is what I _know_ , kravitsa."

Without any other warning, he quickened his pace and reached out to grab me. I dodged him again by jumping out of the way, also switching from walking to running as I tried to get away from him. We barely made it to the end of the living room before I blinked and saw him in front of me. I nearly stumbled over my own feet as I came to a sudden halt as to not run straight into him.

"You cheater!" I scolded. "No powers!"

"Since when have you known to play by the rules?" I narrowed my eyes as he chuckled, and again it only took a blink of my eyes for him to have moved from his spot. It sent a jolt of surprise through me when he was no longer in my line of sight, and yet another when I heard his voice coming from over my shoulder. "I told you that you would not be able to run from me."

I glanced back over my shoulder to see him smirking at me, and I decided then that if he was going to cheat, then so was I.

It only took raising my hand for him to be frozen in place, and I copied his innocent grin from earlier as I walked away from him. "Who says I even have to run?" I asked, walking at a slow pace just to aggravate him. "Cheaters never win, lyubovka. Perhaps this will teach you to play by the rules."

I had been so focused on teasing Pietro that the hand on my shoulder actually surprised me, though when I turned to see that it was Natasha who had tagged me, I supposed I might not have heard her coming from behind me anyway. I sighed in disappointment at the arrogant look on her face as she pointed to the couch, or 'jail' as it was during this game.

I dropped my hold on Pietro as I made my way to the couch, dropping with a huff and my arms crossed over my chest. What can I say? I'm a sore loser. It didn't help that I had been the first Robber to be tagged.

Eventually I was rescued by Vision- who was surprisingly sneaky- and the game continued. In fact, it went on for the rest of the day. Even when a Cop managed to capture a Robber, they were sooner or later brought back into the game. The rule of 'no powers allowed' became more and more difficult to ignore as we all became obsessed with winning, which was only proved by the fact that it must have been well past three in the morning when Maria insisted that we simply call it a draw and go to bed.

We all eventually agreed to the tie, but it took the promise of a rematch on our next free day. A rematch I had every intention of winning, no matter how long it took.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait guys, but as you may know, I have quite a few stories I'm working on at the moment. If you'd like the updates to be more frequent (though I do intend to keep to the schedule of one/two a month) I would really appreciate some ideas for what you'd like to see in future one-shots.**

 **Let me know via review/PM something you'd like to see Maia get involved in, whether it be fun like this one or more dramatic/story-driven like the first one. Many thanks, my dear readers!**


	4. Take Care of Business

**Take Care of Business**

* * *

" _Don't talk, just hold me closer. Let me sit on top of your knee. Go ahead and take care of business for me, for me. Oh Lord, don't keep me waiting. Be as firm as can be. Go ahead and take care of business for me, for me."_

 _Take Care of Business – Nina Simone_

* * *

It wasn't long after our day off learning how to be children that those who had planned to leave finally followed through. Thor had returned to Asgard while Clint and Tony had returned to their own respective homes. The departure of one of my favorite teammates did nothing to quell my near constant boredom, which was irritating to say the least.

That wasn't to say that they didn't visit on occasion, however. Thor less so than the others, but it was certainly an event whenever somebody from the old team dropped in. Especially when Steve and Tony ended up around each other.

When Tony had taken off a few months back, everything had been just dandy between the two. They had hugged, stared lovingly into each other's eyes, confessed that they would miss each other- all but proclaimed their undying love for the other, if you asked anyone who had witnessed the event. With Ultron gone and a new team being assembled, it seemed that all was finally right with the world. Now?

"They tried to kill us!" Steve yelled, causing Tony to shout back, "No, _Ultron_ tried to kill us! These ones would protect us, like they were originally programmed to do."

The two had been going at the same argument for well over fifteen minutes now, with everyone else involved either silently watching the debate or having moved on from the room. Tony had announced his plans to rebuild a smaller version of the Iron Legion that would be used as security for the Avengers Facility the majority of us still lived in, but had been immediately interrupted by a cautious and confused Captain.

Personally, I agreed with Steve. It was an idiotic idea. Tony's argument was that the previous Legion had been under Ultron's control, while these would be under his, and would harbor no threat to us. Everyone in the facility had tried throwing their opinions into the mix, but for Tony and Steve, it seemed that theirs were the only two that mattered.

"Would you please shut them up?" I groaned to Sam, who was one of the few people who had stayed in the room along with me and Maria. Even the twins had abandoned me, one smiling sadly and the other smirking when they left the room. The only reason I hadn't was because when I had tried Maria had grabbed my wrist and sat me back down, saying that the second this was over we were returning to our training.

"Like I haven't tried that already," Sam sighed, flicking his forehead repeatedly with annoyance. He had stayed in the living room because he was currently on watch, making sure nobody tried to invade the facility. No one ever had, but we were still careful.

"I could always forcibly separate them," I offered, earning myself a dirty look from Maria. She was very much against me using my abilities on anyone in the team outside of practice reasons. I only shrugged in response to her silent scolding. "What? It's not as if you are having any better ideas."

"I'm not usually one for violence…" Sam trailed off with a shrug of his own, neither condoning nor discouraging my suggestion as he continued to watch the heated argument before him with full attention.

"If you try to win a war-"

"Before it starts, blah blah blah, _I know._ You never shut up about winning wars!"

"You say you know, but obviously you haven't learned if you're still suggesting-"

"I'm not suggesting, I'm informing."

"Would you _please-_ "

"No, I won't stop interrupting you."

"I cannot listen to any more of this," I practically growled, cupping my hands over my ears as I dropped my head into my lap. "Maria, can we not simply leave them be?"

"I don't trust Steve and Tony to work this out without throwing punches," she said with a shake of her head. "And when that happens, I'll need you to stop them before they're too hurt to participate in any missions that might come up."

"Oh, so I can manipulate them when it pleases you, but not for my own benefit." I didn't see the look she gave me, but I felt her eyes burning into my neck as I continued to try- unsuccessfully- to tune out the childish discussion.

A shrill alarm pierced through the room, loud enough to make me uncover my ears and sit up while both Tony and Steve stopped yelling at each other long enough to look around. They were inevitably back at it in mere moments though, one claiming that this wouldn't be a problem if we had better security and the other arguing that our security was fine as it is.

My attention was turned to Sam however, who had spared no time before donning his suit and heading towards the exit. Maria had hurried from the room to go check the security cameras, but I chose to follow closely behind Sam. It was nothing against Maria, but I was more comfortable around Sam- not to mention that this would be the first action I saw in months.

Sam didn't seem to care about that. "No way," he stopped me before I could walk outside with him. "I got this. You make sure that those two-" he pointed two fingers at the children in the room "-keep away from each other's throats. If I need backup, I'll call Maria."

Before I had the chance to argue, he had closed the door behind himself and taken to the air, telling me that the intruder was most likely on the roof. I turned to glare at Steve and Tony, cursing them in my head for putting me in a situation where I was forced into being a babysitter instead of an Avenger.

But then I thought- _no._ I cannot be forced to do anything I don't wish to here (except train with Maria). So why should I have to stay and lecture two grown men- two grown men who the world relied on to keep them safe, nonetheless- on the finer points of manners? I shouldn't, and I wouldn't.

I was ignored by the squabbling men as I brushed past them, making my way to the control room where I could keep an eye on Sam's situation. I didn't exactly believe him when he said he would call for backup if he needed it, and even if he did how could I ensure that I would be the backup he called for? Much safer to stay in control of the situation myself, I thought.

Maria only glanced at me as I entered the room before returning her watchful eyes to the many screens in front of her. "You left them by themselves?"

"I figured the worst case scenario was the fight becomes physical and they both tire themselves out before any permanent damage is done."

She didn't respond, but I saw the slight drop of her shoulders that indicated a sigh. I had to give credit where it was due- Maria certainly was a mother to the Avengers, which most certainly was never easy. I felt bad for her of course, but not enough to offer taking on responsibility for her. I had a strange feeling that the Avengers would have many more bruises and much less discipline if I were to be in charge.

As we watched Sam land on the seemingly empty roof, Maria pressed a small black button on the microphone sitting in front of her. "What's going on up there, Sam?"

"I'm at the location of the sensor trip, but I'm not seeing anything… Wait a minute… I can see you."

I didn't know what Sam was talking about until out of nowhere a man in a red and silver suit appeared in front of Sam. I had _no idea_ how that worked, and neither did Maria according to the look on her face. The mask on the man's suit lifted to reveal a shaky smile as he waved to Sam. "Hi, I'm Scott."

"Did he just introduce himself?" Maria asked me in a disbelieving tone, but my only response was a baffled look. And I had thought that Ultron was cocky.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked, his voice not betraying his confusion if he felt it.

"First off," _Scott_ started, motioning towards Sam with a chuckle, "I'm a _big_ fan."

"Appreciate it. But who the hell are you?"

Scott seemed apprehensive to answer, the reason for which became clear when he finally did. "I'm Ant-Man."

"Ant-Man?" Sam and I repeated at the same time, while Maria dropped her head into her hands. I couldn't make out exactly what she mumbled after that, but it sounded something like, "Why is this my life?"

"Wanna tell me what you want?"

Scott pointed towards a building separate from the one they were standing on, though he maintained eye contact with Sam as he spoke. "I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology. Just for a few days, then I'd return it. I need it to, uh, save the world- you know how that is."

"This man cannot be serious," I chuckled. Maria didn't think it was funny.

"Yeah, I know exactly how that is," Sam said to Scott before speaking into the comm on his wrist, walking towards the intruder. "Located the breach, bringing him in."

Just as Sam reached out to him, Scott vanished just as quickly as he had appeared earlier. While he was unseen, he knocked Sam stumbling back. When he caught his footing, Sam spread his wings and took off after the seemingly invisible man. "Breach is an adult male, with some kind of shrinking tech."

I leaned across the table from next to Maria, pressing the button on the microphone before she could respond. "Yes, we know. We can see you. Are you ready to admit that you need my help, or shall I watch the Ant-Man hit you a few more times before jumping in to save you?"

"I can handle this," Sam insisted in a gruff voice while stomping his foot on the ground. Only moments later he was flailing, swatting the air around himself as if there was a buzzing fly that he could not get rid of.

"He can handle this, he says," I scoffed, looking down at Maria. "Do you believe the same?"

Maria laced her fingers together before resting her chin against her knuckles, staring intently at the screen. I could see her inner struggle thinly veiled behind her eyes, her indecision on whether to send help or trust Sam to take care of the situation himself. "Sam's capable," she offered, clearly waiting to see how he would do on his own. "Just… give him a minute."

I rolled my eyes, but kept my mouth shut. If Maria trusted him to take care of himself, then so would I. It was painful to watch him get thrown around, but true to his word, Sam continued to hold his own against Scott. It wasn't until the two of them disappeared inside of the old storage unit Scott had initially intended on breaking into that Maria showed any signs of real worry.

"Is his minute over?" I asked anxiously, starting to tap my foot impatiently against the floor. My eagerness to help was slowly but surely becoming less about curing my own boredom and more about worrying that perhaps Sam truly couldn't handle this man by himself.

Before Maria had the chance to answer, Sam flew through the sheet metal door while grabbing at his back. His flight patterns were clearly off as he struggled with the invisible force. "He's inside my pack!" Sam shouted, and that was all I needed.

Ignoring Maria calling after me, I turned on my heel and ran out of the room headed straight for the grounds I knew Sam and Scott would be fighting in. When I ran through the living room I saw that Steve and Tony had disappeared, but they weren't my priority at the moment. If worse came to worse, there were plenty of others around to stop them from seriously injuring one another. My focus was on Sam and the man who could shrink at will beating each other up in our backyard with no other measures being taken to stop them.

By the time I made it outside all I saw was Sam on the ground and a group of ants flying out over the treeline. I hurried to his side and helped him stand, raising my eyebrows in question when he looked from the ants and back to me. "It is really important to me that Cap never finds out about this."

"You mean to tell me that you could not stop an _ant_ from stealing our property?"

"I'd like to have seen you do any better," Sam argued, already starting to walk back inside. I walked at his side, glancing back over my shoulder to see that the insects had long disappeared. There was no point going after them, as by the time we rounded up aircrafts and the team we would have no way of tracking them.

"I am sure I would have," I retorted with a teasing smirk on my face, bumping my shoulder against Sam's as we walked. "But _someone_ insisted that he could hold his own. Forgive me for believing in a teammate to be capable of pest control. Next time I will be better informed, and know to handle the issue myself."

Sam only shot me an annoyed look as we crossed the threshold back into the house, where I was met with the sight of Maria standing with her arms crossed and an unhappy look on her face. "I believe this is the part where you give her your report, and I leave before I get into any trouble," I mock-whispered to Sam, patting his shoulder before stepping around Maria and hurrying out of the living room.

As I walked down the hallway, I saw even more angry expressions. Steve and Tony had apparently stopped arguing during the ant debacle, as I saw Steve standing with his back to the wall and his arms crossed firmly over his chest. I had no idea where Tony had wandered off to, but that was of no concern to me at the moment.

"Captain," I greeted, offering a smile when he turned his attention to me. He didn't return the gesture. "I see that you and Stark have stopped your lover's quarrel. Does it have anything to do with the ants?"

"Ants?"

"You can ask Sam later. Just don't tell him that I was the one who told you." That didn't clear up any of his obvious confusion- not that I expected it to- and he simply ran a tired hand down his face before returning his eyes to the floor in front of himself. I wasn't quite sure how to approach the subject, so I spoke slowly and clearly. "It seems that you and Stark rarely spend a moment together that isn't spent in mutual frustration."

He let out a single, unamused chuckle at that, turning back to finally look at me. "I've noticed… Can I ask you a question, Maia?"

When I nodded, he looked around the hallway before motioning towards his bedroom nearby and stepping closer to it. I knit my eyebrows, wondering why the question required privacy, but following after him anyway. Once inside the room he closed the door before moving to stand in front of me. It was a moment before he spoke, and I waited as he chose his words carefully.

"You've been part of the team for a while now. I know you still spend most of your time with the Maximoffs, but I also see you spending quite a lot of time with the others- Sam, Natasha… You trust us, right?"

My immediate thought was _no_ \- I trust no one but myself and the twins. I even opened my mouth to tell him this, but stopped myself. I thought of the early morning breakfasts, the friendly touches, the gradual camaraderie that had grown between me and the Avengers over my many months spent with them. It was an odd feeling, making friends with people whom I had once considered a plague on the world, but a feeling I found myself dealing with nonetheless.

"Yes," I finally answered with a definitive nod. "Yes, I trust you. I believe Wanda and Pietro do as well. It is a very new situation to find ourselves in, to have people other than ourselves worthy of our trust, our loyalty."

He finally dropped his serious expression long enough to smile at me, offering a nod of his own. "I'm glad."

"Why do you ask?"

Again he paused before answering, and when he did it was one that filled the room with a heavy atmosphere- one that would not leave my thoughts for quite some time. "I have a feeling… I just need to know that I can count on you. That if anything happens, I'll have your support."

I nodded slowly, considering what he had said. He and Tony had disagreed quite a bit as of late, which was no secret to anyone. Perhaps he simply wanted my support in matters regarding Tony, such as the Iron Legion situation. If that was what the Captain meant… "Of course you have it."

Steve's shoulders seemed to lose some of their tension then, which was a relief to see. He carried so much responsibility for the team, just as Maria did. If offering my support was enough to help calm him even the slightest, I was happy to offer it.

"Thank you," he said sincerely. "That was all. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go see what Sam has to say about the- ants, you said?"

"Trust me, it is quite the story."


End file.
